Apothecarist for the Day : The Lavender Oil is Ready

Making Lavender Body Oil, Part II. This is a continuation from a previous post called Making it : Lavender Oil, found here. In the previous post I went about harvesting fresh lavender and bottling it in three different types of oil, to make Lavender Scented Body Oil. In order for the scent to transfer from the lavender to the oil, the jars had to sit in a dark place for an extended period. Today, being a little over a month later, I decanted it into bottles and will share the results.

First off I should say that each oil came out very mildly scented and the lavender smell is not like that found in store-bought products. Though I had tightly packed the fresh lavender leaves and buds and completely covered them in the oil, the scent did not come out very strong. I think the only way I could make it more scented would be to add a few drops of Lavender Essential Oil, (which is a much more concentrated product, that is a result of a complicated procedure of distillation to extract the essence. You’ve probably seen this relatively expensive oil sold in tiny bottles.) I could add more scent but I’m not going to, because while being mild, the scent I achieved is quite pleasant. And Nick liked it too, which is good because he doesn’t go for any overly scented products, and my goal is for him to enjoy this too!

My mission was to prepare skin moisturizers that contained no chemicals; stuff you could actually eat without harm (though these oils are not intended to be eaten). In the extremely dry months of winter here, we use a lot of lotion to keep our skin soft and healthy, and considering that one can actually take some medications by rubbing them on your skin, it is apparent that anything that is in a body lotion gets absorbed through the skin and into the body. I don’t want to be a paranoid scare-monger though, because upon looking up many of the multisyllabic unpronounceable ingredients in the creams I have been using, identified them as harmless … for example, an ingredient called Tocopheryl Acetate is actually Vitamin E! (why didn’t they just say so?)

I used 3 types of oil: Unscented Baby Oil, Olive Oil and Castor Oil. The baby oil is the least thick, and we will use it in the bath, pouring it directly into the water. The Olive Oil was light yet nicely moisturizing. We will use it in place of body lotion. The Castor Oil was the thickest by far, and actually took 1/2 an hour to drain into the bottle. This we will use on our hands and feet.

I downloaded these lovely labels from Just Something I Made, brought to you by Cathe Holden, who generously offers lots of free downloadable images. Thanks Cathe! (Note to self: Tell Nick you found his little brown handled scissors.)

And you know what? After I have used up these three bottles, I will continue to use the oils straight from the bottle, so you don’t even have to worry about the lavender part of this whole story. Just precede to slather it on as is! (This is something that the parents out there would have already discovered in regards to Baby Oil, but non-parents may have never thought of using it.) I am keeping in mind however, that Olive Oil smells like Olive Oil, so I’ll have to make up for that with a small spritz of Chanel No5!

On a final note, I love these authentic vintage (but never used) medication bottles that I found for $1 each, at this very cool place at 443 Adelaide Street West (near Brant Street), called Rotblott’s. This ‘man-cave’ of a store was founded in 1917, and in all those years, I don’t think they’ve ever gotten rid of any old unsold stock. These beautiful bottles were covered in a layer of dust, which in retrospect I wish I hadn’t cleaned off before taking a picture. I could spend an hour in that store just looking around, though every time I’ve been I’m the only female in there!